Construction Company Grows To $15M In Revenue Using Foundation® Accounting Software
Jim Lawler founded Lawler Construction in 2006, focusing primarily on commercial remodeling projects for grocery stores, schools, libraries and churches in the Greater Cleveland area.
Even before opening his new business, Jim recognized the struggles that his peers were experiencing with accounting solutions that were not built for the construction industry. He knew if he wanted Lawler Construction to be successful, he would need a system equipped to handle the accounting and reporting challenges that contractors face.
After becoming familiar with FOUNDATION’s powerful job costing and reporting features, Jim didn’t hesitate to implement the software for their very first projects.
Now, after almost 20 years of successful service in the construction industry, FOUNDATION continues to be Lawler Construction’s one and only accounting software. And for Jim and his two sons, Tom and John, there is no better accounting software.
Immediate Results for Their Investments
Lawler Construction immediately realized cost savings with FOUNDATION. Compared to his experience with prior companies, Jim noted how with FOUNDATION, “the time spent on data entry was cut almost by half than what I was used to.”
While neighboring construction businesses struggled with their accounting systems, Lawler Construction, even as a new company, did not face those same issues. Instead, FOUNDATION accounting software freed up time and resources that the company could allocate towards growth.
For example, end-of-month ledger reconciliations were made fast and painless. “Another company might take a day to process that documentation,” John said. “But with FOUNDATION, it’s something I can do in a quarter or half a day.”
And in addition to minimizing repetitive data processing, FOUNDATION provided in-depth customization for features like A/P reporting, change order management and job cost activity reports.
“A lot of time and effort that’s normally dedicated to manual input and balancing the books was essentially eliminated” Jim said. Adding, “all of
FOUNDATION’s modules interact and share data so well with each other,” which was exactly what Lawler Construction needed to see profits right
from the start.
Accounting Scaled for Growth
When Lawler Construction began with FOUNDATION, they were running an annual revenue of around $2-3 million. Now, at $15 million, they continue to expand, with FOUNDATION scaling alongside their growth.
“We’ve grown almost every year since I joined,” Tom said. “FOUNDATION has been with us every step of the way.”
In John Lawler’s experience, some of the best features of the software include its templates for AIA billing and ability to link purchase order (PO) invoices, which not only greatly benefits them, but also other shareholders.
I don’t ever want to move away from FOUNDATION. I see that it has the capability to grow with us as we grow.
Tom Lawler
Vice President
Lawler Construction
For example, when John is working with subcontractors who don’t have access to advanced software, he is able to use FOUNDATION to assist and teach specific tasks for billing and reporting.
And with FOUNDATION’s job cost activity reports, John has more control over each project. By seeing precise dollar reporting, the financial visibility allows him to quickly address any complications to protect the project and business.
If technical problems ever come up, Lawler Construction can rely on FOUNDATION’s customer support, which plays an integral role in troubleshooting any software issues and keeping the business running smoothly.
“Whenever I call the support line, we always get on the phone and immediately get into a session connect,” John said. “And they can work through the issue alongside me.”
Recovering Hours Spent on Payroll
As Lawler Construction’s workforce grew, meeting payday deadlines became tedious.
And even though FOUNDATION already had internal payroll processing capabilities, Lawler Construction wanted the convenience of outsourcing to a
payroll service that could simplify direct deposits and disburse paychecks.
Fortunately, their solution was not hard to find, as FOUNDATION has a builtin payroll service, Payroll4Construction, that uses the same framework the
Lawlers were already accustomed to.
Payroll4Construction allowed Lawler Construction to completely unburden themselves of the chaos of paying their people. The experts at Payroll4Construction distributed W-2s, help with tax compliance, mailed checks and issued deposits. Within just a few months of implementation, Jim
Lawler could shift focus towards non-payroll tasks.
“We use FOUNDATION and Payroll4Construction together,” John said. “All the payroll services plus that integration saves us countless hours every week. We can do a lot more in our day now.”
Accounting for the Future With FOUNDATION
Now with both FOUNDATION and Payroll4Construction, Lawler Construction looks towards an even more profitable future.
With its extensive list of in-depth features, such as purchase order linking, AIA setup and job cost activity reports, paired with a built-in payroll processing service, FOUNDATION will continue to support Lawler Construction on their upward financial trajectory.
“FOUNDATION has everything we need, more functions than we actually use,” Tom said. “But we have a growth plan that shows the possibility of using some more of those functions.”
Jim, John and Tom report that FOUNDATION has fundamentally impacted their business’s growth to the point that they could not imagine working without it. As a dependable and scalable accounting solution built for the long haul, Lawler Construction knows it is in good hands.
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